Eliot-Pearson Alumnae Association Records

Collection

Call Number: UA202

Ask a Question

Scope and Contents

This collection is composed of account books, board meeting minutes, correspondence, publications, and special events which document the involvement and commitment of the Eliot-Pearson Alumni Association. Of particular interest are the materials related to the Seminar Day, an annual all day event sponsored by the Eliot-Pearson Alumnae Association. This event, started in 1975 and running till 1990, featured seminars and workshops on numerous subjects of important interest to parents and teachers of young children. These subjects included art, literature, and music as well as discussion panels and groups. Also in the collection are files detailing special education programs across the country.

Dates

Majority of material found within 1960
1930 -- 1990

Creator

Alumni Relations

Language of Materials

English

Access

Open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Some material in this collection may be protected by copyright and other rights. Please see “Reproductions and Use” on the Digital Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permission to publish. Copyright to all materials created by Tufts University employees in the course of their work is held by the Trustees of Tufts University.

Arrangement

This collection is organized into two series: Subject files; and Special education programs.

Extent

3.6 Linear Feet (3 boxes)

Additional Description

Biographical / Historical

In 1996, the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Studies became the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development. The department, already prominent in its field, grew between this date and the early 2010s in number of faculty members and lecturers, in courses offered, and in programs that serve students, researchers and families in the greater Boston area.

One landmark event that occurred during the period soon after the department's name change was the endowment of the Bergstrom Family Chair in Applied Developmental Science in 1997, which was described by Sol Gittleman in An Entrepreneurial University: The Transformation of Tufts 1976-2002 as "the nation's first professorship explicitly framed in ADS terms."

The department's facilities include the Eliot-Pearson Children's School, the Tufts Educational Day Care Center, and the Evelyn G. Pitcher Curriculum Lab. Students complement their course work with activities that take place in these facilities and, according to the course catalog for the academic year 2010-2011, with field work with children in a "wide range of applied settings, including schools, hospitals, clinics, day care centers, educational television studios, museums, and juvenile courts."

Undergraduates can choose either a major or a minor in Child Development. There are three Masters programs and a doctoral program in Applied Child Development. The catalog for 2000-2001 described ADS as "an emerging, interdisciplinary field that generates and uses theory and research about human development to improve the lives of children, youth, and families around the world." Students can follow a number of tracks throughout their education in Child Development, the three most common being preparation for a career in behavioral science, a career in human services, and a career in education. For those seeking the latter, the department offers a pre-K to 3 teacher certification program, and an elementary school teacher program in cooperation with the Department of Education. Another joint program is the M.A. in child and family policy, offered with the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy.

As of 2011, the department runs a number of research centers, institutes and special programs, including:Center for Applied Child Development Center for Reading and Language Research Child and Family WebGuide Developmental Technologies Research Group Healthy Families Evaluation Program Home-School Connection Program Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development. The International Adoption Project Tufts Adoption and Development Project

Information about these programs can be found on the department's website.

Every two years since 2001, the department, in partnership with the Communication and Media Studies Program, has presented the Eliot-Pearson Award for Excellence in Children's Media. These awards are nicknamed The Abbys, in honor of educator and co-founder Abigail Adams Eliot.

The Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development's mission is "to contribute to a more just, caring and inclusive society."

Custodial History

The Eliot-Pearson Alumni Association has as its goal the cultivation of permanent relationships between alumni and the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development as well as the advancement of the early child care field of study. It endeavors to share the activities and knowledge of the school world-wide as well as aid its graduates with information on professional events, jobs, and fellowship opportunities. Through newsletters and professional publications, including the Eliot-Pearson News and the Eliot-Pearson Bulletin, the Alumni Association records the successes of the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development.

The Alumni Association has operated through all the name changes and location shifts of the Eliot-Pearson school.

Currently operates a listserv to aid alumni in professional advancement.

Processing Information

This collection was created from materials pulled from UA009 (Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development). The Alumnae Association series in its entirety, as well as unprocessed material concerning the Alumnae Association, were merged into one series labeled subject files. A separate series was created for the research done by the Alumni Association on special education programs in the United States.